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I recently bought a 13" Retina Macbook Pro with a 512gb drive so that my wife and I could both load our iTunes library's without worrying too much about disc space. We have separate accounts with our own separate iTunes.

So here's the problem. My wife downloaded her songs from iTunes and now when I try to download some of my movies it says "This computer is already associated with an iTunes ID and downloads under a different ID will be available in xx days". For real? Downloads under a different Mac account will lock the computer up? I thought with iCloud I wouldn't have to worry so much about making physical copies of my library. Is there anyway to download my stuff to my mac before the 90 days are up?

So here's the problem. My wife downloaded her songs from iTunes and now when I try to download some of my movies it says "This computer is already associated with an iTunes ID and downloads under a different ID will be available in xx days". For real?

Do you and your wife have separate accounts setup on this computer (requiring separate sign-ins)?

- Nick

- Too many "beachballs", read this: Beachballs- Computer seems slower than it used to? Read this for some slow computer tips: Speedup- Almost full hard drive? Some solutions. Out of Space- Apple Battery Info. Battery

Hi, I have an iMac and within the family we have 3 Apple IDs which we use on itunes and the App Store. 2 iPhones, 1 iPad and 1 iPad mini. 1 phone and iPad associated with one ID and the other devices with another ID. The 3rd ID is like a "spare" which I purchase a lot of stuff on. We have never had a problem with switching from one to the other for back up or syncing. I think I have actually used all 3 in one day once. I logged on last night to download a TV episode using the ID which is used 90% of the time and all of a sudden iTunes is telling me that this computer is associated with another iTunes ID and you can only use 1 ID every 90 days. I have racked my brain to try and think which ID could have been used in the last 90 days and can only come up with the one I am currently logged into. I have also tried doing this on my iPad with the same result. I am considering just using my iPad for the downloads however the ID I sync with isn't the one I am usually logged in on so I am a bit cautious. I have read all the info on the Apple site an understand the concept of what is happening but an very curious as to why this has never been a problem before now. We have been using 3 IDs for over 12 months. August 2013 I purchased some TV shows on my husbands ID and loaded to his iPad Mini and then immediately logged back into one of the others with no problem. Any thoughts on this?

I think your problem is the same as mine in that it is not necessarily about being to access items already in iTunes but not being able to download anything onto YOUR Id if the computer says you can't. It also means you can't sync iTunes to an iOS device easily. I have posted about this myself and have never had an issue with this until very recently. I can see from my research that this is something which Apple have had in place forever however it never raised its head on my machine until this week. I think I am going to have to use my Windows laptop for one ID and my iMac for all the stuff I want to play through Apple TV. In this instance it is annoying but not awful however what if you have a family with 3-4 kids who share a computer?

This is just me speaking personally, but I would NEVER EVER share my personal computer with my entire family. I can see getting one computer for "the kids" (depending on their ages, teens really need their own machines) and one for spouses, but there's no way I'd let children handle my very-expensive money-making work machine. YMMV of course but I find that while some money is saved by sharing, a lot of aggravation can be avoided by being very selective about sharing.

This particular issue has risen it's ugly head since iTunes "Match" came into being. iTunes Match can only be enabled by a single account per machine. Multiple Apple IDs on a single computer has never been a good idea, but it had been workable. Once one of those IDs enables iTunes Match, you can say good bye to being able to download iTunes purchases to more than a single Apple ID during any 90 day period.

You could download those purchases on your iPhone/iPad and then sync them to your computer the old fashioned way via cable.

I cannot be held responsible for the things that come out of my mouth.
In the Windows world, most everything folks don't understand is called a virus.

Never have understood using multiple Apple IDs within a family.
One ID - buy everything on that single ID and each device only syncs those items that is wanted on the device. Then use separate iCloud IDs for mail and messaging.

One of the accounts enabled iTunes Match - big no-no when using multiple IDS - as you have discovered - only 1 ID per computer can download purchases once that is turned on. You can download them to the iDevice and transfer purchases during a sync.

For all those using multiple Apple IDs on a single computer - do not enable iTunes Match.

Last edited by bobtomay; 03-22-2014 at 08:44 AM.

I cannot be held responsible for the things that come out of my mouth.
In the Windows world, most everything folks don't understand is called a virus.

Chas - there are 2 people in my household. 3 accounts, one for the country I live in, one for the US store and one for my husband. No kids messing around on the computer. It isn't unreasonable for a family of 2 to need to be able to use different accounts on the one machine. We have multiple iOS devices to sync hence the different accounts. I'm not really seeing how yr post offered a solution to either the writer or myself.

Botomay - I have never used iTunes Match and up until now have been able to use multiple accounts on the one machine. In fact I checked the account it won't allow to download anything at the moment and I purchased and downloaded something on the 2nd March so I am not sure why it is suddenly saying I have to wait another 10 days before I can use it. Again on this machine. I have no issue with the actual setup my issue is that it has suddenly changed.

I think I've replied to this on another post but I don't use iTunes Match on any of these ids and I am the only person who administers them. My husband would not know how to use iTunes and I have checked all my account settings today on all ids to check to see if anything odd has gone one. I'll go back and do it again. I have 2 ids for myself because one is for the US store and one for the country I live in. When I bought my husband an iPad mini I set him up his own account which in hindsight may not have been a great idea however it is done now. Apart from this the ID whichwo nt allow me to down load anything at the moment was used on March 2 to buy and download something so how can iTunes now say that I have to wait another 10 days to use it again? That assumes I have only used the other id for the last 80 days which is incorrect.

Last edited by aussiegirl62; 03-22-2014 at 08:43 AM.
Reason: Add more information

OK - further investigation - it is only not allowing download of previously purchased items which is a problem because I bought a season pass for a TV series and it of course assumes that any download of a new episode is of a previously purchased product. I have been able to purchase and download something else so it seems to be selective. Might have to visit my local Apple Store for an answer to that one. I mean, really it either has a problem with all transactions on the ID or it doesn't!

If you get an answer to that one - please post back - don't know what other acts in iTunes sets off that error message - and I'm afraid to put multiple ID's on any of my machines.

iTunes along with other distributors of movies and TV shows are subject to rules set up by the distributors of the content - including some content is set up so that it can only be downloaded between certain dates. Have no clue if that is the issue here or not.

I cannot be held responsible for the things that come out of my mouth.
In the Windows world, most everything folks don't understand is called a virus.